Exercise 1.06 – Light & Shadow

The Brief

This project involves hunting for strong shadows and highlights in either an outdoor environment lit by strong sunlight, or an interior environment with equally strong light (for example a theater). On a clear day, the hours after sunrise and before sunset when the sun is low on the horizon are useful for this kind of light. If it’s been raining recently, you’ll also find more reflections and highlights. Try to make pictures with feeling.

Before you start this exercise, have a look at the work of Trent Parke:

http://www.magnumphotos.com

http://www.in-public.com/TrentParke/

Make some notes about how Parke uses high contrast light and shadow to create telling, dramatic compositions.

Research Trent Park.

Trent Parke is an Australian Photographers Living in Adelaide, South Australia, who has the distinction of being the only Australian who is a member of Magnum Photos.

He started taking photographs when he was 13 after his mother passed away.  She had a small darkroom in their house and he particularly likes working with Film and processing Black & white film himself.  When he left school he started working for a national newspaper in Sydney and became a sports photographer.  This allowed him to take the photographs he wanted while working.

He is self taught and believes that he can learn more from mistakes made which he will try and replicated.

He considers himself a Story Teller taking many photographs and blending them into a story.

He only works in Australia because he says his projects can take years to complete and he doesn’t feel that you can give that much time to a place you don’t know well.  One of his photographs “Moving Bus” was taken in Sydney and he went back to the same spot every day fro 3 months to get the shot he wanted.

I have chosen 4 of his photographs from his series Dream/Life & Beyond.

I like the mystery of this photograph. The way the man is walking through the mist with the sun just breaking through.  I also like the way the tree splits the image in two.

I like the way the dark shadows loom over the pedestrians walking along the sidewalk with just a chink of sunlight to light up their passing.  The building in the background to the left hand side of the picture give the picture some balance.

In this picture the rain has been frozen just enough to show the drops bouncing if of the road and the 2 lines give a viewpoint which draws the eye across the photograph towards the sunlight/bright area.

This photograph must have taken a long time to get.  It could only have been possible at one time of the day when the sun was shining between the two buildings but it wouldn’t have had the same impact without the person crossing the road at that exact time.

Introduction

I carried this project out over a long time frame to allow me to try and capture as many different type of shadow photographs as I could.  It not always easy in the autumn with overcast days but I did mange to get some good results on odd fine days wherever I could.

Technical

Camera          Nikon d7200

Lens               Nikon 16-85mm f3.5/5.6 & Sigma 10-20mm f3.5

Tripod             Giottos Silk Road YTL 9383 3D column

Settings         Manual exposure

                        ISO 100

                        W.B. auto

                        Type of metering mode used Centre Weighted/Spot Metering.

File type         RAW

Results of Exercise

Sunlight shining though a church window.

Strong shadow under the M11/A406 junction

Posts in the sand at low tide

A dark walk through under the railway

Sunlight through the lounge window.

Trees at sunset

Looking though a stone archway.

The inside of an old ruin.

Conclusion

This was an interesting and enjoyable exercise even if it did take a lot longer than I had planned to get all of the shots I was happy with.  Looking at the work of Trent Park was enlightening (no pun intended).  Shadows can provide a dramatic flare to an otherwise mundane photograph.  “The posts in the sand at low tide” is a good example of this.